Disclaimer: Bioware owns Mass Effect and its characters. Any OC's and changes in the plot are my own.

POV Shepard

I walked into the elevator and pressed the button to go down to the engineering deck. Tali had just sent me a message to come see her about the data we had found on Feros.

Nodding at Ashley, Garrus, and Wrex, I passed behind the opposite wall to the drive core. Adams was working on the opposite terminal to Tali, but she was leaning against it facing where I had come from.

"Shepard... the data you found." She sounded panicked. I walked up while she regained her composure. "The geth are planning an invasion."

I raised an eyebrow. "This is a surprise?"

She nodded, then looked to the ground. "Like I said the day we met, I had been tracking the geth in the veil. When I detached the memory core, the audio banks wasn't the only thing I managed to recover. I found a section of the military force they had. Shepard, the amount of geth was far less than I had imagined."

I nodded in understanding. "But they're planning an invasion?"

She started shaking. "Either the data I found was fake, or the geth found a way to create new units in a more efficient way. The geth are able to create new units, but right now it takes weeks for a single unit to be added roughly per three dozen existing units. It would take decades to be able to get enough units to be able to launch a small invasion. This data suggests that the geth will launch their invasion in one month. Shepard, I..." She broke down in front of me. Adams, who had been working in the opposite terminal, began to stare in sympathy. I brought Tali into a hug.

"Shepard, there's no telling what will happen if a full scale invasion happens. Even if the invasion is easily repelled, my people will be blamed; we might never be able to enter council space again. But if the invasion is successful..." She shook again.

I decided to change the subject at that point. "Is there a way to stop them before it happens?"

She let me go and nodded, turning back to the console. Her voice still betrayed her when she talked again, however. "The Armstrong Nebula. According to this data, there's several bases there critical to their invasion plans. If we take them out, then they won't have a staging ground for their assaults."

I nodded, then put my hand up to my ear. "Joker, change of plans. We're going to the Armstrong Nebula."

"Uh, sure thing Commander."

Tali leaned forward again. "Thank you Shepard. This means a lot to me."

"Let me know if you find anything else from that data, Tali." I turned and walked back to the elevator. The ride up was uneventful, although I was curious as to what we would find in the nebula. I stretched as the elevator opened at the top floor. To my surprise, Garvil was on the other side. This was the first time I'd actually remembered seeing him since we finished our mission on Feros nearly a week ago.

"Um, hey Commander." He saluted. I saluted back and exited the elevator, walking towards the mess hall. He joined my side as we walked down the stairs. "Commander, I'd like to be on the active roster again."

I stopped at the bottom of the stairs and raised an eyebrow. "Can you promise never to endanger the mission again?"

He nodded. "I'm fine now, Commander. I won't endanger the squad."

I smiled, patting him on the shoulder. "I'll readd you before our next mission. I have to say, it's good seeing you not moping around."

He laughed as we began walking towards the the food cupboards. "Garrus helped. He's my best friend on this ship."

I kept my grin as we each pulled out a meal's worth of rations. "I wouldn't have expected a turian to act the way he does, based on what the others have been like towards us." I placed my can in the portable heater and watched it turn.

Garvil leaned against the wall before his response. "Garrus is different. We've been talking a lot since the mission began. He's just as dedicated to stopping Saren as you are." He appeared to be stuck in his thoughts, but gave a small smile towards a wall when he finished. I walked towards one of the mess hall tables and sat down. Garvil didn't notice for a moment, but snapped out of it and joined me, sitting across the table. The cooker was glowing with his meal.

He appeared stuck in his thoughts for a moment as I took the first bite. Blech, none of these are ever any good. Suddenly, he spoke. "Commander. I have a quick question."

"Shoot."

He sighed, as if it wasn't a question he wanted to ask. "I'm curious, Commander. When I attacked the krogan on Therum, why did you go so far out of your way to bring me to the Citadel, and why were you so ready to accept me back on the ship?"

I chuckled before responding. "The first one is easy, Marcus. I do everything in my power to make sure everyone under my command gets out alive. I'm not about to let someone in my squad die. The second question is only slightly more difficult." I took another bite before continuing, trying to give myself time to figure out how to say what I was going to say. I swallowed when I came to a conclusion. "You're not simply average. I've had high hopes for you when you first came aboard, and I'm not willing to give up on you yet."

He nodded and smiled as the cooker beeped behind us. He stood up and grabbed his meal before rejoining me at the table. His reaction to his first bite was similar to my own. After he flinched, he responded back to me with, "I've always been expected to be perfect at what I do. My father was never satisfied with anything less than a 100% in school, and I had anxiety attacks several times because of the stress." He sighed, as if he didn't really want to think about it. "When I became a biotic, I was never part of the group. Usually people begin biotics training when they're preteens. I was an adult, and the kids thought I was too old to be part of them. The N7 program... well, you know about that."

I smiled knowingly. He smiled back before continuing. "I went from ship to ship, doing menial assignments the Alliance would usually send to the grunts. I never understood why, considering what I was trained to do. In every single ship, I was given weird looks and never included in anything. The Demeter was the first ship that ever was any different. Captain Reynolds was the first person who seemed truly happy to find out I was going to be in his crew. Every other captain hated me because of the threat I'd do my job too well and be promoted on the spot to being captain of their ship. Reynolds is the first actual friend I've ever had. The team I was in charge of on his ship was the first that didn't talk behind my back."

He sighed heavily and leaned back in his chair. "And... they were the first team I've ever lost. The first team I was happy to serve with, dead. One of them died in front of my eyes. Corporal Wellings. I can't forget the look he gave me before he died. He..." I saw a tear run down his cheek.

I leaned foward and put my hand on his. "What happened on that mission? How did they die?"

"We were doing that mission against one of Cerberus' research facilities. They had been researching the Rachni there, doing what looks like cloning them." He shuddered. "We had been doing a mission with another ground team from the Alliance. The leader of that team betrayed us. I had left two of my squadmates to guard the door to the head researcher's office while Wellings and I confronted him. Wellings died when turrets hidden in his plants were activated, and the other commander killed the last two. I had to think fast to get out of that situation alive."

I sighed. "What level of priority was this mission?"

"High."

I sighed again. "What's the chance of one of the people in charge of the ground team being a traitor on a high priority mission? That chance is so close to zero percent, that no one could have predicted it would happen. It's not your fault for not noticing. As for Wellings, that's not your fault either. It was simply a mission that went bad. It happens, and it wasn't because of what you did."

We heard footsteps on the stairs and both turned. Jentha appeared with a cigarette between her lips. She smirked and walked towards us. "What do we have here, a soldier crying?" She was referencing to the tear lines down Garvil's face. "Man up, we got a mission to do. Say, Commander, when we doing our next mission?"

I glared at her. "When we get there, Lieutenant. Also, this is my ship. Any time you insult my crew, you answer directly to me. Understood?" I wasn't about to let her talk shit to anyone on my ship.

She laughed. "I understand, Commander. Hit me up when you're going on your next mission, I'm getting restless over here."

"Go talk to Wrex. He's right up your alley." I was getting annoyed by her, fast.

She laughed again, this time even harder, as if I had said a good joke. "The krogan? He's just like the rest of the aliens, useless."

I stood up. Garvil jumped, staring at me in shock. I walked up to the smirking woman and put my finger directly in her face. "This is not the Alliance, missy. I'm a council spectre, and that means I choose who I want on this ship, human or not. If you don't like it, you can piss off next time we stop for supplies. If you're lucky, that won't be Tuchanka."

The outburst surprised Jentha, but that was hidden back in her arrogant smile in a split second. "Sure thing, sir." With that, she turned and walked back to the CIC, taking a drag from her cigarette. Garrus appeared before she reached the stairs, and she bumped roughly into him before dropping out of sight. He stared back towards her in shock, then slowly turned and continued walking towards the food cupboard. After grabbing one of the turian cans and heating it up, he sat next to Garvil. At that point, I had already sat back down.

Garrus' mandibles twitched a couple times before asking, "What's up with her? I knew people on the ship would be wary of serving with a turian, but I didn't expect outright hostility."

I shrugged and took the last bite from my meal. "She's trouble, Garrus. Don't mind her. I don't think anyone on the ship actually likes her."

"Why is she here, then?"

I sighed. "I looked through her dossier. She wasn't kidding when she said she gets things done. She... she was the one behind the bloodbath of Torfan." I saw Garvil look up at me in shock.

"She was the one behind that?" He asked in disbelief. "She was the one who ordered most of her squad to die so that the slavers would be wiped out?" I nodded. Garvil stood up, leaving his half-eaten can of rations on the table. He appeared disgusted when he said, "I'm not hungry anymore." After that, he walked up the stairs.

Garrus opened his mouth a few times, but nothing came out. "Torfan." He appeared to be in thought. "I don't remember much about it, but I remember hearing about someone ordering hundreds of people to their deaths in order to kill every single batarian slaver, including the ones who surrendered."

I sighed deeply and nodded grimly. "It was so bad that the commanding officer, Major Kyle, requested a discharge. It was granted, and he ended up leading a biotic commune. Garrus, I'm not sure if she's worth the trouble, even if she's deathly good at getting the job done."

The turian responded through bites of his food. "It's your ship, Shepard. You're the one who makes the decisions. Whichever you choose, I'm sure it will be the correct one."

I smiled my thanks and stood up. "We'll be in the Armstrong Nebula soon, Garrus. Be ready."

Garrus laughed in response. "I'm always ready, Shepard. Just say the word."

I threw away my ration, as well as Marcus' half-eaten one, and walked towards the stairs. I hope we can stop this invasion...

POV Garvil

Two days later, I was walking into the briefing room to see everyone already there. Ashley, Kaidan, and Liara sat in one side of the room, while Tali, Wrex, and Garrus sat on the other. Jentha was leaning on the wall next to the door. She smirked at me when I walked it, giving me a rush of anger. I held it in and leaned against the other side of the door, crossing my arms.

Shepard smiled at me briefly before turning around. The Armstrong Cluster and its systems appeared on the screen.

"We're here to take out several geth bases in this cluster. We're headed for this one first." He tapped the terminal, and one of the systems enlarged to take up the whole screen. The Hong System. Shepard pointed to one planet in particular. "Casbin is our first stop. Let's get in quick and take that outpost out. Tali, are the bombs ready?" She nodded. "Good, you'll be coming with us. Jentha, you're coming as well. We'll drop in the Mako and take out the guards. After that's done, we'll plant the bomb and blow the outpost to hell. Dismissed."

Jentha gave me a mischevous smile as she exited the room, as if taunting me that she was the one chosen to go on the mission and not me. What the hell is up with her?

I waited until the majority of people left the room. Tali was the last except for Shepard. I stopped her before she could get through the door. She looked up at me taken aback.

"These outposts," I started quietly. "You found their location from the data you found on Feros?"

She nodded, her hands shaking. She was obviously very distraught about this mission. I smiled reassurance and added, "Give them hell for me Tali." She nodded again, avoiding my gaze this time. Shepard had noticed us talking at this point and was looking at me from the terminal. I waved and left the room after everyone else. I noticed Shepard raising an eyebrow at me before the door closed. I walked down to the medical bay for one of my usual checkups. Chakwas had insisted that I get my nerves tested every few days as a precaution.

"No complications, Marcus. From what it looks like, your biotics are safe to use as long as you don't go too far. It looks like there won't be any significant side effects except for your fingers and toes."

I nodded and stood up from where I had been sitting on the bed. Stretching, I walked out of the room and decided to go down to the engineering bay. I yawned as the elevator moved, closing my eyes as I leaned against one of the walls. I opened my eyes again when the door shifted, allowing me access to the lower level. I walked to my locker and was approached by Ashley.

"Marcus, can I talk to you for a minute?"

I nodded. "What's up, Ashley?"

She turned and gave Garrus a strange look before turning back to me. Garrus was applying a mod to his sniper rifle.

"I don't like having aliens on this ship," she told me quietly so the turian wouldn't hear.

I sighed in annoyance. "He's a friend, Ashley. Just because this is technically an Alliance ship doesn't mean it's strictly Alliance."

She looked down at her feet at my response. I didn't let that stop me. "Garrus helped me when no one else on the ship could. I've noticed the ship working better and better since we started, mostly due to Tali's work. I don't like Wrex either, but is a krogan battlemaster with centuries of experience. If there's anyone who knows how to fight, it's him. Face it Ashley. Like it or not, we'd have a much harder time without their skills."

She looked up at me again, an unreadable expression in her face. I could tell that this was not what she had wanted to hear.

"I... I see." With that, she returned to her workstation, back to polishing her pistol. her face remained unreadable. I sat down on one of the chairs strewn about the room and began polishing my own assault rifle. Wrex appeared in the elevator soon after, looking even more enraged than usual. Despite my better judgment, I walked up to him as he sat brooding in his usual spot towards one of the corners. He stared at my approach with his red eyes boring through me.

"Um, what's wrong Wrex?"

He growled in anger. "Why do you care, human?"

I raised my hands in nonaggression. "Obviously something has you on edge. If you're going to have a problem that could affect the mission, then it needs to be solved sooner than later."

Wrex continued growling, but said nothing. I stood there, waiting. Finally, he responded, "I am Wrex of clan Urdnot. We've had a set of family armor that was handed down through generations. When the rebellions happened, it was taken from my father. I've been searching for it for centuries, and I figured out who had it." He stared at the floor in seething anger. "Tonn Actus. I wish I killed that bastard the last time we met."

I stepped back. "Do you know where he is?"

He shook his head before looking up at me. "He has bases all over the galaxy. I'd go on a hunt through all of them, but he'd know what I'm looking for and get rid of it. I have to be sure where it is before I attack it." He hesitated. "When I do, I'm going to go get my family's armor back, alone or otherwise." The last part sounded like a threat.

I took another step back. "Talk to Shepard about it when you find out. He'll help you out."

Wrex's responding grunt gave the impression of finality. I shrugged and sat back down, returning to my assault rifle. I sighed to myself and stared at my gun. With the ground team still off the ship, there was not much to do. I grabbed my cloth and took the gun apart, cleaning the barrel.

The mission ended with success, as did the next two. Garrus and Wrex had their shot with the Mako's guns, with Tali around to place the bombs. Ashley had the fourth base, which was the last of the known geth outposts in this cluster. After the outpost was destroyed, they figured out that none of them were the primary outpost. With some clever tracking on Tali's part, we discovered the location of the primary base of operations.

I was chosen as the gunner for the final run, which I was grateful for. I was worried that Shepard didn't trust me enough on the field to bring me on any missions yet. I suited up in the armory, then climbed into the Mako with Shepard and Tali. She stared at me as I climbed into the turret spot, but I ignored it for the time being. Suddenly, the cargo hold's lower door opened, dropping us into the atmosphere of Solcrum, the largest moon of the blue gas giant Notanban. As with every planet and moon in this system, the atmosphere was far hotter than anything we were meant to handle. The mako had enough temperature modulating power to keep us safe inside, but our excursions outside of the tank would have to be short.

We moved towards the coordinates of the base, remaining alert. We passed over a mountain and immediately saw a bunch of guard towers and geth armatures defending what looked like a covered hole in the ground. I immediately began firing, keeping the pressure up on the forces as they struggled to figure out where the fire was coming from. When they found our location, the air became thick with rockets and the balls of energy armatures fired. Shepard kept us out of their way as I methodically riddled the armatures with bullets. After they fell, the rocket troopers stood no chance against the Mako's cannon.

We exited the Mako in front of the structure and entered it. We came out in a short hallway leading into a giant room. I checked the inside and saw a large amount of geth units, including several destroyers and even a prime. They were already aware that we had infiltrated the facility. I relayed this information to Shepard and Tali, and they nodded. This would be a tough mission...

I pulled out my assault rifle and began firing upon the destroyers advancing on my position. Shepard was doing the same, but Tali stayed behind cover fiddling with her omni-tool. I used biotic throw to send the nearest destroyer back, crashing in two of the other four and landing in a heap. Suddenly, I heard Tali exclaim, "Yes!" in success, and I saw one of the destroyers blow up. The other one standing stared at it, confused, but then blew up as well. The geth prime walked up to where the three destroyers were attempting to distangle themselves from each other and stomped over them, causing sparks to fly everywhere.

The geth prime looked towards where we were staring back at it, then spoke in its usual garbled language. After a second, it blew up.

The entire facility shook with the explosion, but we were all unharmed. Tali stood up and walked to where the prime had stood before the explosion. Shepard and I followed, still surprised that she had pulled that off. After a second, she turned to us. "Let's place this bomb and get out of here."

Shepard nodded, but I held up my hand. "Let's scout this place out first, see if we can find anything here."

I looked around, then followed the edge to make sure there weren't any doors or terminals. I found a door hidden behind a few large machines where geth stood in standby mode. I screamed out, "Hey guys! Over here!" and opened the door.

There was only a terminal inside. Tali entered the room as I opened the files, Shepard coming in afterwards.

I smiled. "Tali, I think you might have what you need for your pilgrimage right here." She froze for a minute, then ran up to the terminal. I stood to the side, allowing her to see what I had found.

She gasped in wonder. "This is information about the geth within the first few decades after we found them." She turned to Shepard. Her next request was nearly a plead. "Shepard, I need a copy of this. It could help my people understand the geth. If we're lucky, it could be just what we need to take our homeworld back."

Shepard raised an eyebrow and put a hand to his chin in thought. "If we give you the information, your pilgrimage will be over. You'll go back to the migrant fleet."

Tali shook her head. "That can wait. I'm with you until Saren's stopped, you have my promise."

Shepard thought for a second. "All right, Tali. Once we get back to the ship, make a copy and keep it for your pilgrimage. The original will go to the Alliance."

Tali looked visibly relieved. "Thank you Shepard." Afterwards, she turned towards me and hugged me again. "Thank you, Marcus. If you didn't stop us from blowing up the base right away-"

I cut her off. "My pleasure, Tali. I hope that data helps you."

She let go. I could have sworn I saw her smile through her suit. I couldn't help but smile back. Shepard walked towards the door and called back to us when he reached it. "We should leave. We don't want to meet geth reinforcements.

I nodded and led the way out of the base. With no further fights, we left the moon. Before the moon left our sights, an explosion could be seen on an edge of it, ensuring the facility would not be used again.

The nine of us met in the briefing room an hour later. Shepard was again at the terminal, Jentha and I on either side of the door, and the other six in the chairs throughout the room.

Shepard beamed at us. "What we have done here this week might have stopped a galactic incident. I've already sent the information off to Admiral Hackett, and we'll probably find out within a few days what would have happened had we not stopped the geth before their invasion began. You all should be proud of what you have achieved today."

I looked at Tali at that point. She was standing straight, a sight that I hadn't ever seen before. She looked like she was finally accepting that she was an important part of the crew. I smiled at the thought. Shepard and Garrus might be my best friends, but Tali was something entirely different. I was beginning to notice that I was seeing her as more of a sister than a crewmate.

Shepard interrupted my thoughts with the next part of his speech. "We're not done yet. We still have a job to do, and this was only a minor detour. We're stopping for supplies on the Citadel. Get what you need fast, since we might not have much time."

I zoned out of the rest of Shepard's speech. I hadn't slept in nearly 20 hours, and it was beginning to show. I only noticed everyone was leaving when I felt Wrex's footsteps to my side. I immediately went to sleep, waking up when we reached the Citadel.

I walked with Kaidan through the market district. While I liked Shepard and Garrus more, Kaidan was a cool guy to talk to. I found out he had been trained at Gagarin Station, the station I was only at for a day before being transferred out. His implant was old, giving him migraines and making it difficult for him to fight at times. I related to him easily, my nerve damage being a constant threat to my biotics.

I ended up replacing my Diamondback II assault rifle for a Diamondback IV. Hahne-Kedar was known for thinking outside the box with its products, and I was greatly impressed with everything they made. I transferred my modules to the new weapon, then returned to the ship.

I found Shepard in front of the galaxy map, plotting out next course. I waited behind him, and was rewarded with him finally turning and walking down the ramp.

"What's up Marcus?" He asked.

"Is Noveria our next stop sir?" I was curious, and couldn't help asking. We took one detour, and I wasn't sure if we were taking another before continuing our mission.

Shepard laughed. "The council gave me another lead. A salarian task force group went dark while investigating some ties to Saren. The council believes there might be information there that could be a great help against him."

I raised an eyebrow. "Where is this location, sir?"

He exhaled, then gave a slight smile. "Virmire."